February 28, 2008

On February 11th, the first baby cardinalfish arrived.
Then on the next day 6 more arrived. On the following morning (13th) the male surprised me with 18 more fry, making the total to 25!
I moved the male to the other side of the tank divider I installed, leaving babies behind with the sitter. With all the commotion I made trying to catch the male, the sitter ran away leaving all the babies behind. Bewildered babies were all huddled together in a corner of the tank. It took me a few tries, but I managed to get the sitter back to the babies. Then I fed the babies with baby brine shrimp (bbs). Again the sitter tried to ran away when I showered it with bbs. So the chase started all over again. I am beginning to wonder about the value of having a live sea urchin for a sitter. Not only does it try to leave but it poops a lot, too.

February 9, 2008

My male cardinalfish has been holding babies for at least 29 days now. I can see babies in his mouth. They are rolling around, peeking out of Daddy’s mouth, and acting really cute. I can see at least three of them moving in the front part of his mouth.

I have read that Banggaii cardinal males incubate eggs and hold fries in their mouth for 26 days on the average. So his babies are almost over due now. I am wondering if I have to play a midwife here soon.